GH4 Panasonic GH5 coming in 2017

Just skimmed the thread & didn't read the posts thoroughly, but am in the camp that there is a different look to larger formats then smaller. And I too have used all the still's formats up to the Polaroid 20x24" behemoth.

Had a long discussion about this phenomenon in a private forum with some of the top working photographers & eventually all agreed it does exist.
 
Bern Caughey said:
DLD your slipping...
Click to expand...
It's the age thing.

PS. The Pocket and the Micro are both 1080p. Each can record Raw and therein lies the problem for 4K. In order to do higher bit rate 10-bit, a product needs a higher performing and a higher priced media (and the related interface). BMD made the step up to CFast 2.0 with URSA, Sony has QXD on FS7 but others are recalcitrant. Perhaps, they're waiting for the prices to fall further, perhaps for a more efficient compression to take hold. Panasonic would also prefer to sell more P2 cards but those are not priced in line with a $5,000 camera.
 
I'd be very happy with the ability to record video from the full sensor (4.6K). The small additional resolution would be great for re-framing and stabilization. 4K @ 60p would be awesome, too (with a possible 1080p @120p).

I think those are the two main things that seem very within the realm of possibility without major re-designs or pipe dream spec changes.

Also within possibility, but a little more wish-listy are better dynamic range and low light performance.

I also really, really hope v-log comes native to the GH5, and that it continues to work with the YAGH.

Hopefully, being easy to please will pay off in Q1 of 2016 :)

-DES
 
The thing with the GH4 is you do already have the option to record 10bit 4k with an external device. While not internal recording at least Panasonic was smart enough to give all of us that option. The recording format doesn't have to hobble the camera in this case because you do have options.

Hey I would love to record that internally as well but at least Panasonic threw us a bone there. Most other DSLR cameras are lucky to have a true uncompressed signal at 8 bit. In this case we get the full quality possible besides RAW. Even the Sony A7S II only has 8 bit output via HDMI. While that camera is better in low light it kind of sucks compared to the GH4 if you want 10bit 4k.
 
For now, I’ve decided to quit buying new cameras and invest in a recorder that will give me the best possible quality from the cameras I have, 2 Panasonic GH4’s an a Panasonic AG-HPX250. Will this prevent me from buying new cameras in the future, of course it wont, but it will make me think twice about what I’m getting and will it be that much better than what I have.
 
DLD said:
perhaps for a more efficient compression to take hold.
Click to expand...

"HEVC...can alternatively be used to provide substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. The first version of the standard was completed, approved, and published in 2013. The second version was completed and approved in 2014 and published in early 2015."

If any forthcoming GH5 is still using H.264, Panasonic will have goofed beyond words.
 
Jim Simon said:
"HEVC...can alternatively be used to provide substantially improved video quality at the same bit rate. The first version of the standard was completed, approved, and published in 2013. The second version was completed and approved in 2014 and published in early 2015."

If any forthcoming GH5 is still using H.264, Panasonic will have goofed beyond words.
Click to expand...
There is a lot of patent litigation - patent trolling, if you will - going on right now with HEVC. Google/YouTube VP9 is open source but may require a bit more processing power and may not be (as) supported by the various editing platforms and would require conversion.

Of course, Panasonic is a part of these coalitions and may be willing to live with the royalties. IMO, on the low end, VP9 makes more sense. The high/er end can afford the hardware royalties. The ultimate high end can afford the SSD's for Raw.
 
I predict VP9 will never make it into a camera.

I predict it'll barely make it outside the Google ecosystem. Hardware will be primarily HEVC. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu are using HEVC.

VP9 is a non-issue.

The GH5 needs to use HEVC at the same bitrates H.264 is using now.
 
Jim Simon said:
... The GH5 needs to use HEVC at the same bitrates H.264 is using now.
Click to expand...
That would be almost an ideal solution, as Panasonic is likely to stick with the SDXC cards. A better than ideal solution would be HEVC and CFast2.0, which would allow an "easy" ~ 200 Mbps or so recording for a ProRes 444 type quality.

The caveat is, however, is that we speculate based on the publicly available information. These large corporations go far beyond that - to say nothing of their legal VP's making a long list of taboos - and their reasoning often becomes clear only many months down the road.
 
Jim Simon said:
ProRes. It only comes in QuickTime, which must die already!!!

Cineform MXF files would have been much better.
Click to expand...

As you're aware ProRes is the Industry Standard, & will remain for some time, so it's fruitless to swim against the stream.

When clients "drop money in the Monkey Cup the Monkey makes the Monkey Dance".
 
Jim Simon said:
ProRes. It only comes in QuickTime, which must die already!!!

Cineform MXF files would have been much better.
Click to expand...

Quicktime is a heck of a lot more universal than MXF or Cineform ever were. ProRes also works flawlessly on OSX and FCPX so I'm not sure why it should die. In my opinion MXF is a failed format that never lived up to the promise of creating a universal easy to use format. In reality the format is convoluted and super finicky. Cineform was a great format at one time but never reached the market penetration it should have. Cineform also has the down side of requiring editors to buy a plugin to use it. Not very universal in my opinion and a bit of a nightmare to get working on a Mac.

Myself and many others hope ProRes never dies. Like it or not but ProRes is the only professional format that delivered on the promise of giving professional quality to the wider market with the widest amount of support. Its also very easy to add to devices and now a defacto standard for video recording and editing. When is the last time Cineform was even updated? In fact it looks like Cineform Studio is end of life and support is ending on December 31st 2015. So yeah why would anybody add hardware support for a format that could be nearing end of life. It looks like the latest official version of Premiere supported is 2014. Again not a very safe bet.
 
There is another viable codec alternative to ProRes, which is DNxHD. Cameras such as Sony F5, F55, as well as the Alexis camera range, all support both ProRes and DNxHD. Atomos devices support both ProRes and DNxHD such as, the Ninja-2/Samurai, Shogun and Assassin and many Blackmagic devices as well.
 
It's too bad that Apple doesn't seem to license the ProRes SDK on Windows, at least from what I understand. Does any NLE on Windows render ProRes natively (without a paid plugin)? Also, is ProRes an openly documented standard, like DNxHD? It seems like ProRes only became popular because of the popularity of FCP 7.
 
Really I think all manufacturers should have just done ProRes and DNxHD, like Blackmagic did. Instead they went every other way conceivable --- as best I can guess from Not Invented Here Syndrome.

In 5 or 10 years, a TB of flash memory will be $20. Then it will be silly to do anything but RAW. ProRes is just a transition format, while media is expensive. Like all transitions, it will one day end. It just would have been nice if this transition was less bumpy.

HEVC is a dead end as a native camera capture format, in my humble opinion. Some cameras coming out soon might have it, but again, by 2025 hopefully cameras will have left compression in the dust. HEVC could take off, though, as a final distribution format. Then again, so could VP9, VP10, Thor, Daala, or something else more open, which is my preference.
 
combatentropy said:
In 5 or 10 years, a TB of flash memory will be $20. Then it will be silly to do anything but RAW. ProRes is just a transition format, while media is expensive. Like all transitions, it will one day end. It just would have been nice if this transition was less bumpy...
Click to expand...
It's twue, it's twue. (the other version is "Après nous, le déluge", which when translated from French means, "I only care about GH5 in 2016" ... or something like that).

Anyway, in 2015-16, HEVC or even VP9 can surely come in handy as an in-camera codec for the models unwilling to accommodate the CFast2.0 cards or large internal SSD's.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top